AN: I have posted some links on my profile if you are curious how I picture Fleur and Bella in my mind.

Well, here is the new chapter, enjoy!


Chapter 43 - Fleur's Past

In spite of the alarming news that he had received, Harry quickly recollected himself.

'There's nothing we can do about it. Whether I tell them now or three hours later, it is all the same. No point in ruining the moment we have. Besides, who is to say that the Weasleys were so unlucky that they were in that very pyramid at the moment of the explosion? Egypt is a large country and there are many other pyramids and tombs that Muggles don't even know about,' he reasoned.

Not unlike in Harry's previous life, Arthur Weasley had won the Daily Prophet's lottery in the summer before the third school year as well - he had seen the article about it in the Daily Prophet and Mr Weasley talking about his plans to travel with his family to Egypt, to visit his eldest son. Still, he hoped that they were okay. Clearing his mind of his dark thoughts, Harry petted the beautiful owl on the head a few times. She may have been the bearer of some bad news but it was entirely not her fault.

"You go back to the Delcaours' and have a rest, okay? I will be diving back to everyone."

Hedwig hooted in acknowledgement and, after finishing her portion of rabbit steak, she flew away.

Returning to the rest of the family underwater, Harry spent another hour and a half diving with them. His control over his emotional state and the fact that they were all gawking at the beautiful aquatic scenery instead of paying attention to him made it that nobody noticed his worries.

The Delacours' and Bellatrix's reaction to the news was nothing more than clicking their tongues and talking about it for around half an hour. As tragic as the news had been, Egypt was far from Western Europe. If that disaster had happened due to the Muggles specifically targeting magical people like it had happened during the witch hunts or the trials from Salem a few hundred years ago, they would have shown more grave expressions but seeing as - according to Le Sorcier at the very least - it had been the act of a Muggle terrorist organisation, they were not overly alarmed. While more than 10 wizards and witches had been declared missing (with additional names to be added to the list in the following days) it could not be compared to the massive loss of human lives among Muggles. Tens of locals and hundreds of tourists had been decimated.

"To think Muggles possessed this kind of firepower..." Mr Delacour said with a shake of his head.

"I don't think any ordinary Muggle organisation can get a hold of a bomb this strong," Bellatrix said, a pondering look on her face. "The Great Pyramid of Giza is massive. It is over 100 meters tall and 200 meters wide. The pyramids are also protected by various ancient warding spells that reinforce their structure and foundation - no way they would have lasted nearly 5000 years otherwise. But look at the photo:" she said and pointed at the moving image on Le Sorcier's first page showing the pyramid blowing up from within, "the pyramid didn't just collapse from losing its supporting pillars or whatever it was that was holding it standing - it blew up completely."

"What are you getting to?" Harry said, Bellatrix's words suddenly giving him a bad feeling.

"I'm no expert in Muggle technology but I'm not completely ignorant either. A bomb with an explosion of this magnitude is not small. It's not the kind of thing that you can just hide and carry in a backpack easily," Bellatrix explained and then asked Apolline and Jean: "Have you ever visited the Pyramids?"

The French couple nodded and they said: "Yes." "Yes, but a long time ago. It was on our honeymoon wasn't it?"

"Then you know how the interior looks like: you enter it through an extremely narrow tunnel and you have to walk for dozens of meters before getting into one of the inner chambers. I don't think a Muggle bomb powerful enough to blow up the pyramid can even fit through that small place... and how did they even sneak in with it with none the wiser when there are metal detectors and tight security everywhere? Again, it's not a hand grenade or a bomb small enough to be carried in a backpack."

The Delacours themselves were not very clear on Muggle bombs but Harry had grown up in the Muggle world so he had some general knowledge about them. He saw the truth in Bellatrix's words.

"So you're saying that a wizard or a witch did this?" Harry asked.

"But what kind of spell would even be capable of such destruction? It's nothing like I 'ave ever seen!" Mrs Delacour said in wonder, her forehead scrunched up in a frown.

"Fiendfyre could probably achieve that if cast at full power by a wizard as strong as Dumbledore," Bellatrix said. "But more likely than that is that someone had triggered one of the ancient wards of the pyramid. My guess is that the curse breakers working there messed up big time and now the Egyptian Ministry of Magic is trying to cover up their dirt by throwing the blame on Muggles. Wouldn't be the first time a wizarding government did something like that. And most wizards and witches aren't familiar enough with the Muggles' technology to discern whether they would be capable of doing what they're accused of or not."

Through it all, Fleur was the only one who remained silent, her expression unreadable.

"I don't think this is a good idea. No, I don't think it's a good idea at all!" a young woman said with a shake of her head.

"Well, you know mum, once she put her mind to something..."

"Bill, are you crazy? We ran away from Great Britain in fear for our lives, what would we go back for?!"

The war was over before most people even found out when it had started. Thomas Gaunt, a seemingly ordinary wizard had worked his way up in the government until he became the Minister of Magic, democratically elected by the members of the Wizengamot. Ever since this man had appeared, Albus Dumbledore had tried to warn everyone about his true identity - that he was none other than Voldemort - but nobody believed his claims. Thomas Gaunt was such a genial and charming person and a philanthropist to boot as well, having donated significant sums of money to St Mungo. Nobody could associate the respectable middle-aged man with the terrible wizard that had terrified the British Wizarding World for two decades. The Daily Prophet slandering Dumbledore on a daily basis did not help his case either. The average population just assumed that Dumbledore had gone senile due to his old age.

In 1998, however, Thomas Gaunt revealed his true colours when he attacked Hogwarts. Dozens of students were massacred by his army of Werewolves and the Order of Phoenix's members were killed or arrested as well by the Aurors. Albus Dumbledore himself had lost his life too at the hands of Thomas Gaunt in a legendary duel. From that moment on, Voldemort's regime of terror began but it was too late for anyone to stop him. He had become the Minister of Magic through legal means, the larger part of the Wizengamot was on his side as well, and even the attack on Hogwarts had been under the guise of stopping Dumbledore's attempt at a coup d'etat.

Fleur and Bill had been just two of the many witches and wizards that had left the country after the defeat at the Battle of Hogwarts. But the rest of the still surviving members of the Weasley family did not want to leave their Burrow behind.

"Why doesn't she come 'ere, in France? Why is she so stubborn about us 'aving our wedding in the UK?!"

"Mum doesn't like France..." Bill said, his voice meek.

"Well, news flash: her son's fiance is French!" Fleur shouted irritated. "Why does your family 'ate me that much, Bill?" she ended up saying, almost crying now.

The young man took her in his arms and hugged her.

"I'm sorry, Fleur. Just give it a bit of time. I'm sure they'll warm up to you eventually," he said and rubbed her back soothingly.

In truth, Bill himself was not happy with how his family had treated Fleur until then. There was no problem with the male side of the family but his mother and his sister, Ginny, had made it their mission to make her life miserable. He was not blind to how Ginny called Fleur "Phlegm" or how his mother found fault in everything that Fleur did, from her cooking to the way she dressed and even how she styled her hair. However, he had hoped that they would tone it down after a few months. He could not break contact with them just for the sake of Fleur either, he loved his family.

In spite of her feelings regarding Great Britain and her future mother and sister in law, Fleur had caved in at Bill's pleas eventually and accepted to go back to the UK for their wedding. She was in love with him or she would have not put up with Molly and Ginny's terrible behaviour for so long otherwise.

Two days later, Fleur, Bill, Mr and Mrs Delacour and young Gabrielle arrived at the Burrow via Apparition. The adults were also holding flying broomsticks in their hands, betraying the fact that they had not used an international portkey to get to the UK. With the Ministry of Magic under the control of Voldemort, it would have been a folly for them to do that. Instead, they had flown over the English channel with their broomsticks and then Apparated to the Burrow when they got close enough.

Dead tired and soaked from the rain, the Delacour family was not happy and that's putting it lightly. The fact that the Weasleys had not even come outside to greet them after they made such a difficult journey did not lighten their mood either.

Bill smiled apologetically and went ahead to open the doors.

"Strange, it looks like nobody is home. That's rare..." he said when he saw that all lights were turned off. "Well, come in," he said over his shoulder. "I'll go turn on the gas lamps."

The Delacours followed him inside. At that moment, they were too tired to even get into an argument. All they wanted was to bathe themselves and sleep in a warm and comfortable bed...though, in the back of their minds, they were wondering if a comfortable sleep was possible in such a cramped place. They would most likely have to share beds with someone, there not being enough space for both families.

After getting inside, however, the entrance door abruptly shut itself closed after them. All lights were instantly turned on and the Delacours squinted their eyes at the unexpected light momentarily blinding them.

A cacophony of voices was heard and Fleur suddenly found herself falling on the floor, her body as stiff as a statue, a Body-Binding Charm having paralyzed her. She was not the only one: her mother, her father, and her little sister also collapsed on the floor immobilized.

She could not make sense of the situation. She wanted to ask what the hell was going on. How in the world had the Aurors bypassed the warding spells of the Burrow, or how did they even know that they were coming that evening. However, her entire body was paralyzed, she could not move. But her questions were answered when she heard Bill's voice:

"I did what you asked. My parents, Ginny, where are they? You promised me! You promised me that they will-"

"Avada Kedavra!"

A flash of green light illuminated the room and a thud was heard as Bill Weasley collapsed on the floor lifelessly.

"What a moron," one of the wizards in the room said and laughed in disdain. "Did he really believe that the Dark Lord would let his family live after they crossed him?"

⁂ Back to the present ⁂

It was late, past midnight. Maybe because of the physical effort made during their diving that day, Fleur had fallen asleep before 10 o'clock, her head resting on her arms, while she was sitting at a desk, in the basement.

'Now I know how Hermione must've felt when she helped us study for exams in the past,' Harry thought in amusement while looking at the sleeping girl.

He conjured a sleeping bag and a pillow for her and levitated her inside, with Fleur not waking up in the process.

Currently, Harry was working on inscribing a complicated Ancient Runes formation on the bronze statue. It was complicated because the formula had to fulfil several operations such as recognizing the owner's magic, locking onto it, identifying foreign magical signatures and repelling them too. What he was doing was not that much different from Muggle programmers' work when they created programs. What made it more difficult for him was that there was no room for mistakes; working with Ancient Runes was highly dangerous and often unforgiving. Nonetheless, it was not as if he had not done some tests on paper first before starting to work on the statue itself. He was pretty confident it would turn out well.

'It has to. If Fleur wants to control this statue as a weapon, it would be laughable if her enemy could just wrestle control over it from her. So it needs to reject all foreign magic signatures.'

While he was inscribing the runes on the back of the statue, a soft sobbing sound broke the silence in the underground room. Harry lifted his eyes from the statue and the red glow on the tip of his wand faded away.

'Is she having a nightmare?'

It was a rhetorical question. It became obvious when she started crying in her sleep. Quiet sobs and softly spoken words in French that Harry could not understand but it broke his heart to see her like that.

"Hey, wake up! Fleur! Wake up!" he said and shook her gently.

But she was not waking up. It was as if she was trapped in that nightmare, unable to break out. Her body suddenly became stiff as if she had been hit by a Body-Binding Curse and her cries started to become louder.

"Fleur! Wake up!" he said louder and shook her harder but it was to no avail.

Left with no other choice, he grabbed his wand and pointed it at her:

'Enervate.'

The girl's eyes opened with a start and she sat up with a gasp, a look of terror on her face. But when she felt someone gently wrapping her into their arms, tension slowly disappeared from her body and she returned the hug.

Harry did not bug her with questions about her nightmare. As someone who had been tormented by nightmares for the better part of the first 20 years of his previous life, he knew that someone asking questions about what she had dreamt about was the last thing Fleur wanted to hear at that moment. He only offered her a shoulder to lean on and a comforting embrace.

"Thank you, 'Arry," Fleur said softly after a while.

"What for?" asked Harry, all the while caressing the back of her head and gently running his fingers through her hair.

"For being here, with me," she said and nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck.

He pressed a kiss on the crown of her head and tightened his arms around her a little.

"Of course. Always."

At his words, she lifted her head and looked at him.

"Always? Promise?" she asked.

Her eyes, red from crying, and her cheeks still wet with tears were like stabs into his heart.

"Yes, always," he said, and, in her vulnerable state of mind, she teared up anew. But she smiled through her tears and leaned in to place a chaste kiss on his lips.

Harry slipped into the sleeping bag next to her and Fleur quickly cuddled up against him, hugging his waist and putting her head on his chest.

"You're a bit heavy," he complained jokingly.

In spite of herself, she snorted with laughter. "Don't start it now. Just hug me."

As he hugged her and she sank into the comfort of his body warmth, Fleur's mind went back to how Harry had repeatedly warned her about the dangers of bottling up her emotions for too long, that Occlumency was not all-powerful, and that she would eventually blow up. She had been sealing away the memory of her past life and the terrible way in which her sister and parents were killed for years, refusing to think about it. But when it finally happened, she could not even break out from her nightmare - something that skilled Occlumens should have been capable of doing with little difficulty.

With those thoughts in mind, without Harry's prodding, she started to talk about her dream. She told him about her relationship with Bill. She told him how Molly and Ginny Weasley never liked her. She told him how she wanted to be accepted by Bellatrix in this life. It was well in the wee hours of the morning when Fleur finished talking about her past life.

"Do you hate Bill?" Harry asked eventually.

Fleur took a few seconds to formulate her answer.

"I am not sure. I don't know. Bill was a good man..."

She made another pause before saying: "Sometimes, circumstances make good people do bad things. I don't blame 'im."

"You don't?" he asked in surprise.

"No," she said. "Bill was put into an impossible situation: they made 'im choose between me and 'is parents and 'is little sister. Faced with that situation, if I 'ad to choose between 'im and my parents and sister, I don't know what I would. If there is anyone to blame, it's 'is parents for stubbornly choosing to remain in the UK after Gaunt won the war...but ultimately, Gaunt was the root of all evil. That's why I did everything in my power to stop 'im this time around. That's why I killed every single one of those who supported 'im in 'is rise as the Minister."

Before Harry could reply to that, Fleur continued: "But just because I don't 'ate 'im, it doesn't mean I want to be together with 'im. No matter the reason, 'e betrayed me. I watched my parents and my sister get executed by hanging, 'Arry - the most humiliating death for a wizard. And I was sentenced to a Dementor's Kiss. I could never be together with him again. Not after something like that."

Chills travelled down Harry's spine at her words.

"A Dementor's Kiss?!" he cried out. "I thought all souls are lost forever once a Dementor devours them."

"I don't know what 'appened to me after that. I only know I've never felt pain like that time. The next thing I know, I woke up nearly 10 years in the past."

Harry knew what happened. Death had made it clear for him how Fleur had travelled back in time. But he chose not to bring it up at that moment because Fleur was not in the best mental condition.

"But why did Voldemort even target you at all?" he asked.

"Bill and I didn't give up resisting even after going to France. Instead, with the 'elp of my father, we started to look for support among the French and spread awareness about the real situation in Great Britain because the world at large did not even know that Thomas Gaunt was in fact the Dark Lord. And it was working. My family would not 'ave been targeted otherwise."

The two of them sank into a comfortable silence for a while.

"You will never leave me, 'Arry, will you? You promised."

"Yes, I won't."

"You are mine, yes?" she insisted.

He replied with a smile. "Yes, I am."

"If you were in Bill's shoes, what would you do? If you 'ad to choose between me and Professor Black, who would you choose?"

Harry could not find his words at that.

"I don't know," he muttered after a while. "I've never had a family. Even in my past life, the closest thing to a family were the Weasleys, and I've only spent a few weeks during the summers between school years with them. But I've already lived with Bellatrix for 2 years. She gave me a family, Fleur. Long before we became a thing, she had been by my side, supporting me and taking care of me as if I was her own son. I could never abandon Bella."

That was not what Fleur wanted to hear, especially considering her trauma - Harry knew that much. But he could not bring himself to lie to her.

"But I cannot give up on you either. I can't. I care about you so much. I don't know what I would do if I lost either of you."

He looked at the dark ceiling of the basement, his eyes taking a faraway look.

"After everything I've been through if anything happened to you or to her... I don't know what I would do... I think I'd lose it."

Silence was instilled once again, a sombre mood looming over them.

"I can't choose between you two. But I won't have to. Something like in your past life, I will never let it happen. Voldemort will never get the upper hand. Not while I am still alive. I will protect you. Your family too."

Fleur let out a soft sigh and snuggled closer into his side. It was not exactly the answer she had been looking for but she was happy enough with that too.

"Do you have more of that Ageing Potion?" she suddenly whispered as she started peppering his neck with butterfly kisses.

"...You want to do it now?"

She was not embarrassed in the least as she replied:

"I need you now"

She sucked on the skin of his neck until a bruise was left behind.

"Make love to me, 'Arry. I need to feel you. Show me 'ow much you love me."

It was at that moment that it clicked for him and he finally understood the reason for her possessiveness, why she was so clingy, almost desperate for him to show his love for her every day. She was afraid of the past repeating itself. She was afraid of him doing the same thing that Bill did. He could not say no to her. Especially not at that moment.

A few minutes later, having drunk an entire flask of Ageing Potion, Harry and Fleur became one. Deeply buried inside of her, with her arms around his neck and her long legs tightly wrapped around his waist, they made slow and passionate love, coming again and again, professing their love and crying each other's names. Even after falling asleep, Fleur did not let go of him, her hands clutching at the fabric of his shirt.


AN: It has been hinted before that Bellatrix was not ignorant of Muggle technology and their means of destruction - excerpt from chapter 9: "Nobody will harm you here. My home is the safest place in Europe. Nothing short of a nuke would threaten this place. I only need your wand to key you into the wards."

You also finally got to see what happened in Fleur's past. It had been foreshadowed quite often that it was not pretty. Actually, I had a more graphic scene in mind for her past when I first started writing the story but, as I was writing this chapter, I felt like it would be too over the top so I adjusted it a little. I saw no real need to make it more graphic. Her fiance luring her into a trap and then watching her family being executed in front of her eyes is traumatic enough as it is.

Hope you liked the chapter. There will be a timeskip after this. Until next time!